Photo : Petar Milošević — CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Sinai · Dahab, South Sinai
Blue Hole
A coral shaft around a hundred metres deep, reachable from the beach in fins.
A karst collapse inside the reef, a few kilometres north of Dahab: from the shore the bottom drops straight to around a hundred metres, with a shallow entry lagoon you can wade into. Snorkelling, you follow the drop-off and see most of the reef; diving, the classic route descends a chimney then follows a coral wall.
The extra bit
Come before 9am: the light rakes into the shaft, nobody's there yet, and the shoreline cafés serve breakfast with your feet in the sand.
Know before you go
Snorkelling here is safe and easy; deep diving is not. The arch, at around fifty metres, is for technical divers only and has cost many lives — the memorial plaques on the cliff are not decoration. Go through a certified centre and stay within your level.



